Magic, Metaphysics and Even Mr. Potato Head

In the world of Off Broadway, it isn’t often that a performer describes himself as a raconteur. But Eric Walton, the star of “Esoterica,” which opened last nightat the DR2 Theater, pretty much fits the description. He is also a magician.

After Mr. Walton asks a volunteer from the audience about her thoughts on fate versus free will, he shares some of Menelaus’ thoughts on the subject. He quotes Andrew Marvell and Winston Churchill on the subject of death. He uses the Swiftian adjective Brobdingnagian. As he observes in Act II, this is “a magic show and a liberal arts education rolled into one.”

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Eric Walton in "Esoterica."Credit...Carol Rosegg

And the magic in this mostly one-man show (Reyna De Courcy, an onstage assistant, makes silent appearances) is a lot of fun. He explains his success at “fast and loose,” a street scam that he tries on audience volunteers, as a matter of predictive psychology. After all, he says, the human face is “capable of 250,000 distinct expressions.” Apparently one of them means, “I’m going to choose the loop on the left.”

But that doesn’t account for his numerous impressive card tricks. Or his ability to solve the chess puzzle known as the knight’s tour without looking at the chessboard. He follows that up with a remarkable manipulation (known as a magic square) of the number 48.

He stops periodically between chess moves to ask for state names from the audience. There is probably some devious reason for this, but it isn’t particularly amazing that he can name all 50 capital cities and add a fun fact about each state. It isn’t that fantastic that he can persuade the “spirits” to place a Mr. Potato Head figure into a martini glass inside a closed cabinet, either. But it is amusing to hear Potato Head pronounced with the broad British “a.”

Mr. Walton dresses beautifully for his show. In Act I he wears an elegant pinstriped suit. For Act II he changes into a velvet blazer and, near the end of this very entertaining evening, mentions that garment. Wow! How did he know I had written myself a note wondering about the fabric?